Turbomachinery breathes new life
Petron Corporation is the largest oil refining
and marketing company in the Philippines, supplying nearly 40% of
the country’s oil requirements. Following catastrophic
failure at a site in the Philippines, Petron requested Weir Power
and Industrial’s Turbomachinery Service Centre to replicate a new
compressor bundle using severely damaged parts as patterns.
Weir offered an impressive delivery time to manufacture the new
components and rebuild the compressor.
The compressor bundle and barrel, along with a
spare rotor, were air-freighted from the Philippines to the
Turbomachinery Service Centre in Barton-on-Humber in the UK.
The old parts were scanned using a 3-D coordinate mapping machine
and the contours of the parts were digitally adjusted to compensate
for the distortion caused as a result of the explosion. New
parts were then produced and the compressor was rebuilt in the UK
before being returned to the Philippines.
Improvements were made to the original 1971
design, including the superior surface finish of the
diaphragms. The work carried out on the Petron compressor
displays the benefit of skilful engineering and the commercial
impact of reduced delivery times.
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